Charlotte Preston

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Charlotte Preston

Charlotte Preston is a Certified Somatic Experiencing® therapist based in Dorset, UK, working with adults, teenagers and groups.

She specialises in somatic approaches: Somatic Experiencing trauma therapy, bodywork & movement practices. I offer embodied movement group classes & one-to-one somatic therapy, online and in-person in Poole, Dorset, UK. I work with yoga, qigong, somatic movement, reiki, massage therapy and I'm currently training in Somatic Experiencing.

18/02/2026

If you had to cope alone as a child, you probably became very good at coping.

Very capable.
Very self-reliant.
Very attuned to what needed to be done.

But coping isn’t the same as feeling supported.

When there was no one to help you make sense of big emotions, your nervous system learned to stay alert. To manage. To hold it together.

That strategy may have helped you survive.

But it can feel exhausting to live there long-term.

In somatic therapy, we don’t rush to “fix” that.

We build safety gradually.
We strengthen your capacity to feel without being flooded.
We help your body experience connection in a new way.

Over time, slowing down feels less threatening.
Rest becomes possible.
Energy returns.

Not because you forced yourself to change.
But because your nervous system no longer has to work so hard.

If this resonates, you’re not broken.
Your system adapted intelligently.

And it can adapt again.

📍 UK + Online
DM me or comment 'somatic' if you'd like to hear more about working with me in one to one somatic therapy. 🤍

17/02/2026

Happy New Lunar New year of the fire horse! 🔥🐎

This post came to me as this is a year with themes of freedom, confidence and connection.

I reflected on how, for those of us who grew up focused more on the outside than the inside, those qualities might not come very naturally. And also how somatic work can really support us reconnecting with more trust of our inner experience. Ive seen this so many times working with clients, and it's wonderful to witness.

So many of us learned to survive by paying attention to everything outside of us.
Other people’s moods. Needs. Energy.

And slowly lost touch with our own bodies along the way.

This Lunar New Year of the Fire Horse invites themes of freedom, confidence, and connection.
For those shaped by trauma, these aren’t traits we “just have.”
They’re capacities we gently rebuild.

Somatic work shifts the focus inward.
From managing the world around you
to listening to the wisdom within you.

Your experience matters.
Your body’s signals matter.
And you can learn to trust them again.

What’s one small way you could listen inward today? 💛

11/02/2026

Lately we've been processing collective horror. It's a lot for anyone to hold. And this process of being present and witnessing it, I believe, is bringing necessary shifts in consciousness. Bringing light to what previously was hidden.

These practices aren’t about ignoring what’s happening.
They’re about building the capacity to stay present, care deeply, and at the same time not burn out.

When you feel overwhelmed, freeze, numbness, anxiety, and shutdown happen.
They’re intelligent responses to too much input, too much threat, too much at once.

This post talks about resourcing : which is anything which helps to soothe or settle or bring you back to yourself. It also talks about increasing capacity to be with the stress and the 'charge' which is how we can work to make them feel less overwhelming.

What’s been helping me is slowing down enough to feel what’s actually here.
Letting the charge move through.
Moving my body.
Connecting with others.
Rooting back into the physical world.

Sometimes awareness alone is the beginning of change.

If you’ve been feeling more tired, scattered, emotional, or withdrawn lately, you’re not broken.
Your nervous system is responding to intensity.

And you’re not meant to hold it alone.

If you’re craving more grounding and community, I run a weekly in-person somatic movement class at Rockwater and a free monthly online group called Gather & Ground (first Tuesday of the month).
You can sign up through the link in my bio.

Let me know, how are you coping right now? 🤍

29/01/2026

Sometimes healing and learning are packaged like a school curriculum.
Module 1, then Module 2, then the final transformation at the end.

And... structure and direction can be really helpful.
It can feel grounding to know what we are exploring and why.

But when it comes to nervous system healing, trauma recovery, and learning how to live more comfortably in your body, it rarely unfolds in neat, linear stages.

What is often offered in a three-month course is actually the kind of learning and integration that continues over years.
Not because you are slow.
But because your body learns through experience, repetition, and safety, not through rushing to the next concept.

When I work one-to-one, everyone takes in different pieces at different times.
Sometimes we need to stay with one small thing for a while before anything else can really land.
That is not falling behind.
That is listening to your system.

So if you have ever felt like you are “behind” in your healing, or not keeping up in the way you think you should, I want to gently remind you that you are not on a deadline.

You have the rest of your life to keep learning how to feel safer, more connected, and more at home in yourself.
And that kind of learning is allowed to be slow, human, and deeply individual.

What's your experience with modular courses like this? Id love to hear from you in the comments below.

💛

20/01/2026

Delighted to be a part of this retreat on International Women's Day 💚 join us? DM 'retreat' and I'll send you details & booking link.

Charlotte will be leading a session on Somatic Experiencing
'Charlotte introduces a body-centred approach to understanding stress, overwhelm and trauma. She’ll share insights into how overwhelm impacts the body, followed by a gentle somatic session designed to support regulation, reconnection and healing.'

International Women’s Day Retreat
Monday 9th March
9am - 3pm
Roof Terrace

Join us for a soulful, immersive International Women’s Day Retreat set high above the shoreline on the Roof Terrace. With the ocean as our backdrop this is a day designed for connection, restoration and embodied strength.

Rooted in community and inspired by the power of women supporting women, this retreat brings together movement, breath, sound and stillness. While the day honours the lived experience, resilience and creativity of women, it is open to everyone who values depth, wellbeing and meaningful connection.

Expect nourishing food, thoughtful conversation, powerful practices and a space that feels inclusive, relaxed and beautifully curated.

17/01/2026

You are not behind.

So much of healing happens quietly.
In the small choices. In the pauses. In the moments you do something different, even when no one else can see it.

If you grew up needing to stay alert, adapt, or hold it all together, slowing down can feel like you are doing something wrong. Like you should be further along by now.

But healing is not a race.
Your nervous system learns through experience, not through pressure.

If things feel slower right now, it does not mean nothing is happening.
It often means something important is finally being allowed to change.

You are not behind.

You are building something steadier, from the inside out.

See link at top of my page for ways we can work together. 🧡

13/01/2026

💚

Don't know where this came from, but this evening I was a poet, and I didn't know it. I wrote this in response to a post saying 'mental health content is produced these days faster than we can psychologically metabolise it' and I thought... that's so true. And such an important point to be aware of.

What do you think?

11/01/2026

A bit of a longer post today and a personal share.

There was a time in my early twenties when the suggestion “go gently with yourself” made me feel physically sick.

Not metaphorically.
In my body.

Softness felt dangerous. Weak. Disgusting.
My nervous system associated rest, ease, and letting go with threat and shame. So pushing, controlling, striving and punishing myself felt safer, even when it was exhausting and harming my health.

I’m sharing this because many of us carry similar patterns, even if they show up differently on the surface.

When we begin to unpack our childhood stories, and gently start to feel the emotions that were never safe or allowed back then, something powerful happens. Shame begins to loosen its grip.

Shame doesn’t appear out of nowhere. It often enters our system in childhood, through unmet emotional needs, family dynamics, generational trauma, or unwitnessed social oppression. When our experiences weren’t seen, protected, or named, our nervous systems made meaning in the only way they could.

Very often that meaning becomes:
Something is wrong with me.
My feelings don’t matter.
My body can’t be trusted.
I need to be harder on myself to be okay.

That belief can quietly ripple through our adult lives, shaping how we relate to rest, safety, pleasure, boundaries, ambition, food, relationships, and our own bodies.

For me, real change didn’t come from forcing myself to be calmer or more “gentle.”
It came gradually, through relational therapy and somatic work, learning to meet the parts of me that had been pushing so hard, and allowing long-held emotions to be felt safely in the body.

That’s where unshaming begins.
Not by fixing ourselves.
But by understanding why our nervous system adapted the way it did, and offering it new experiences over time.

If you recognise any of this in yourself, you’re not broken.
Your body learned what it needed to survive.

And with the right pacing, support, and kindness, new ways of being really can become possible. 🌿

Comment or DM 'Somatic' if you'd like to receive details of my specialist somatic therapy sessions, based on Somatic Experiencing trauma therapy, and compassionate presence.

08/01/2026

This felt like kind of a bold statement to make. But it also felt most present and true for me today. And I'm making a practice of expressing my inner voice more. It can feel scary, sometimes. Still.

There are loads of things I love on social media, too.
Funny, cute, supportive, educational and entertaining posts.
Communities I’m genuinely glad to be part of.

And there’s also a lot of noise.
A lot that can feel exhausting to take in.

Having boundaries around this really matters.
Unfollowing or muting what doesn’t feel good for your system.
Limiting the pings and notifications.
Anything we take in has an impact on the nervous system.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about individualism.
About how our culture leans towards performing, proving ourselves, and pushing.

That’s a burden we were never meant to carry alone.

We’re not meant to carry the world on our shoulders by ourselves.
In more rooted cultures, there’s communal support, relationship with land, rhythm, season, shared meaning.
Not everything rests on one nervous system trying to cope.

Maybe part of healing is letting ourselves come back into relationship.
With people.
With nature.
With a wider web of life that can hold some of the load with us.

You don’t have to do this all alone.

🧡

05/01/2026

January so far. 🤍

If today was your first day back at work, well done on making it through.

I tried really hard today to get some words together and they weren't flowing. It reminded me of an intention : to move at a pace that allows me to stay connected with myself. Sometimes, that will mean feeling and experiencing being slow, or stuck. Feeling the stuckness allows movement to the next place. That's one of the reasons I'm interested in not using AI to break through the stuckness. It feels like it allows me to truly embody where I am, and respect that.
It also reminded me that sometimes the thing doesn't flow because we're trying too hard. And being in nature and outside I feel there's always a good reminder : could it be this simple? There's always a sense of flow here. Being here reminds my body of that sense of flow.

Tomorrow I'm holding an online session, 6-7:30pm UK time, where we'll gather as a group and explore somatic practice to help meet yourself where you are. It's free, and would be lovely to see you there. Link in bio if you'd like to join us.

x

02/01/2026

Happy New year! How are you doing?

I've noticed the subtle creep of tension in my body over the last few days. I hadn't really set any new year intentions yet, but there was a feeling in the background of 'maybe I should have?!' this was interesting to notice. Like just by osmosis there's a tension in the air.

At the same time, I'm an advocate for learning how and choosing how we can focus our attention, in ways that are supportive to us.

How can we do this in a way that's less overwhelming for our nervous system?

It makes sense that setting new year intentions is overwhelming.
Especially if your nervous system has been carrying a lot.
Especially if you’re recovering from stress, trauma, pain, chronic symptoms.
Especially if “big goals” have tipped you into overwhelm before.

This post is an invitation to a different approach.

One that values:
• staying connected with yourself
• easing pressure rather than adding more
• working with capacity, not against it
• little steps, taken often
• the long view of healing and change

Growth and healing don’t need to come from pushing.
They can come from listening.
From building safety.
From simple, repeatable practices that help you feel more present in your body, day by day.

If you’d like support with this, I’m holding a free online workshop next Tuesday 6th January, 6–7pm UK time.

We’ll explore a foundational somatic practice you can return to throughout the year, to support regulation, connection, and intention-setting without overwhelm.

To receive the details, comment “Gather” below,
or sign up via the link in my bio.

It would be great to see you there. 💚

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Wood Green

Website

https://charlotte-preston.com/

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